Four Gifts
by Awdures
Summary: Knuckles has never had a birthday present. Has never even heard of the concept. Sonic considers this entirely unacceptable...
1. Revisit

**Ths is a rather fulffy spinoff from a much much darker story** _ **From The Other Side**_ **, which has a brief line about birthdays which turned into this. Caution: old 16-bit game references to open ;-)**

-–-

Knuckles looked uneasily at the mural. It needed cleaning really. He brushed away the stone dust which had settled on it, starting to obscure the stylised picture of the battle between the glowing hedgehog and the giant robot.

He hadn't been down here since it... happened... it was too strange. And he'd got it too wrong to want the reminder. But something had sent him this route to the surface today, something had made him pause.

He stared at the design until it ceased to be a picture at all, became so many disconnected little tiles. Let his eyes and his attention both unfocus. Paid attention instead to the uneasiness. It wasn't about the mural it was something else, something on the Island, something not entirely unfamiliar and at the same time utterly new to this place.

The hedgehog was here? Again?

The moment it had crossed his mind he knew it to be true and he ran for the surface. Instinct drove him and he emerged less than a hundred yards from Sonic who skidded to a stop, and almost off his feet, one hand flung out, trailing the ground for balance.

"Woah!" he said, recovering his balance and raising both hands. "Hey. Hi! No need for the big entrance! Not here for trouble."

Until that second Knuckles had given zero thought to exactly what he intended to do upon intercepting the hedgehog. He'd just reacted. Now he had to decide and he found himself at a loss.

They weren't enemies. Unless he was wrong about that too. He wasn't sure what they were. Allies? Did Sonic want help in return for setting him straight about Robotnik and helping him recover the Master Emerald? He'd told him, hadn't he, that getting involved in issues on the surface wasn't an option?

"Sonic," he said, warily, by way of greeting. He wanted to add, 'What do you want?' but recognised distantly how like a challenge that sounded and he didn't quite think challenge was the hedgehog's intention. So he left it at one word and waited.

"So," the hedgehog looked round. "I thought I'd come see you. How you doing?"

Was that it then? Was was Sonic checking up on him? Making sure he was still fit for the task of defending the Island? He _had_ been injured when they'd parted he supposed. Exhausted, leaning heavily on the Master Emerald to keep going, but that had been weeks ago. Almost months.

"I'm fine."

For some reason Sonic seemed perturbed by this answer.

"Uh... Good. I guess. So what's new?"

"Here?" Knuckles shrugged. "I dealt with the robots that were left behind."

Sonic frowned. "I thought they deactivated when Robotnik's ship went down."

Knuckles shrugged again,

"They didn't stay deactivated then. Your doppelganger was one of them."

The hedgehog's eyes widened. "Metal Sonic? You fought him? Did you destroy him?"

Knuckles frowned. _Him_? It was a machine wasn't it?

"I don't know. I thought so, but it was gone when I'd finished checking the rest of the area. Things were unstable for a while though, - the platform may have tipped the thing over the edge when it fell."

"Here's hoping."

"I'm fairly sure it fell," Knuckles felt able to assure him. He frowned again as he admitted, "There's almost nothing left of Sky Sanctuary."

Sonic lowered his gaze. "Yeah. I saw. I'm sorry. It didn't float back up when the Island did?"

Knuckles shook his head and stared at the hedgehog. The loss of Sky Sanctuary, the burning elsewhere on the Island, the disruption caused by the temporary loss of the Master Emerald... All those things were _his own_ fault not Sonic's, and he told him so.

"Is that what you think?" Sonic looked genuinely surprised. "Na, Robotnik causes uproar wherever he goes, it's not like you're the only one he ever fooled. No one's fault, don't sweat it." Sonic grinned. "Anyway, I obviously can't be the only one who knows that 'cause it looks like you're still here guardian-ing, it's not like you got the sack or anything."

There was too much in that sentence for Knuckles to unpick. Still here? Where else could he be? And as for the rest of it...

"A sack?"

Sonic blinked at him. " _The_ sack? Y'know - got the sack, got fired, lost your job?" He tipped his head to one side. "No? I mean - they didn't decide to give this whole guardian thing to someone else because you screwed up over Robotnik, right? So someone obviously thinks you're the best echidna for the job."

Realisation hit and Knuckles, relieved to change topics from whose fault the attack had been, explained.

"There _is_ no one else, Sonic. I'm the only one here, the only Guardian."

"Job for life, huh? So no one got bent out of shape about it?"

Knuckles stared at the hedgehog. He wasn't making himself clear and he wasn't sure why. He spoke a perfectly adequate dialect of the surface language as far as he knew.

"There _is_ no one," he tried again. "No other Guardians, no other echidnas. Just me. If any still live on the surface then they've never come back."

Sonic's expression changed, but Knuckles couldn't manage to pin it down to a specific emotion. His voice when he spoke was unexpectedly quieter.

"No one? Woah. That's... Well, I'd sort of guessed this place was empty - the ruins and so on, but I thought it was just the setup - I mean, it's not the safest living space anyway is it? But you've really got no contact with anyone on the surface any more? For how long?"

Knuckles shook his head. "I don't know. As long as I can remember."

"You don't know?" Sonic looked dismayed. "That's kind of a downer. I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Knuckles frowned in puzzlement. What was it to do with Sonic?

"Sure. I mean it sounds sort of sad? Doesn't it bother you not knowing?"

Knuckles shrugged. "What difference would it make if it did?"

"You never wanted to go looking?"

"Even if I did, I've nowhere to start." Knuckles' head turned instinctively back in the direction he knew the Master Emerald to be. "And I belong here. It's enough." He looked at Sonic. "You've seen what the Master Emerald can do. Do you really think it could be left unguarded?"

He wondered if the hedgehog would point out how narrowly it _had_ been kept safe, how Knuckles had needed his help to do so. But he didn't. He pulled a face instead.

"'Spose not. But I'd have come back sooner if I'd known you were all alone up here!"

"Why?"

Sonic shook his spines, looking almost exasperated. "I dunno, I just would. I'd have wondered if you were lonely, I guess. I mean, clearly not but... Look, if you want me to shove off I'll shove off. I'm not a hedgehog to stick around where he's not wanted."

Knuckles regarded him, trying to work out what to make of this.

"I'm not lonely."

"Fine," Sonic said, definitely irritated now. "Good. Uh... Bye?"

"Wait." Knuckles had spoken before he knew why and frowned, struggling to work it out. He wasn't lonely. How could he be lonely? Loneliness was missing the people you cared for, people you knew - family, friends. He didn't know anybody and Guardians had neither family nor friends. Therefore he wasn't lonely. Wasn't even entirely sure he'd recognise the feeling.

But there was something. Against all physical logic the Island had seemed quieter in the absence of the hedgehog after he'd left than before he'd arrived. That couldn't be what was meant by missing someone could it? That heavy silence? It was beyond belief that he should have missed the hedgehog after one encounter and most of that on opposite sides. Wasn't it?

He stared at Sonic, who _had_ waited. Was watching him, head cocked sideways in curiosity. An uninvited presence on the Island that should have unnerved him but somehow didn't. Perhaps he could work it out if the hedgehog stayed, at least for a while.

"Are you hungry?" he asked abruptly, the closest he could come to an invitation.

Sonic's puzzled look split into a grin.

"Usually!" he said. "Watcha got?"

Knuckles shrugged. "We'll see."

It was still the best of seasons for food, no need to break into his stores so Knuckles gathered on the move, pears, blackberries, the tough-skinned but incredibly sweet fruits that he had no common-tongue name for and knew only as _aval-avak_. Sonic chattered as followed him, commenting on what, to Knuckles, sounded like completely random topics - the steepness of the hills (good for running on he claimed), how he bounced landing the 'Tornado'. Knuckles took this to be the name of an aircraft but couldn't work out if Sonic thought the bouncing was good or bad. How Tails was up to the tips of his ears in some new and improved version but said 'hi'.

Knuckles stopped outside one of the light overnight shelters. Although he'd built it as a stopgap for summer storms and he spent a lot of time here in the warmer months, it was a still comfortable place to sit and eat in this mild early autumn.

He waved Sonic to a stool and divided out the fruit. He was aware that Sonic had done all of the talking but was unsure what information to offer or questions to ask in return.

Sonic beat him to it before he'd decided.

"This is food?" He weighed the _aval_ in his hand. "I thought maybe you were keeping it to play ball with or knock coconuts off shys or something."

Knuckles felt a flicker of amusement at the hedgehog's bafflement. At least he wasn't the only one trying to make sense of this visit.

He reached for a knife, opened his own fruit deftly in demonstration then switched his grip on the to the blade and lobbed it spinning end over end towards the hedgehog.

Sonic's hand's flashed out and snatched it by the handle.

"Woah!" he yelped. "You always throw sharp stuff at people you invite for dinner?"

Knuckles gave him a small, appraising smile. "I've seen your speed. I had no reason to think you wouldn't catch it."

"Hmm." Sonic considered this. "That a compliment?"

Knuckles shrugged. "A fact. Knowing what your allies are capable of is tactically important."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Well I'm not that tactical a hedgehog."

"That much I already knew."

"Huh, and hitting stuff is sooooo tactical?" Sonic smirked.

"When effective."

Sonic laughed and shrugged. "Well, whatever works." He paused. "So I count as an ally now do I?"

Knuckles frowned. He'd almost started to relax a little but there was the exact problem. "I don't know what else to call you. We have a mutual enemy."

Sonic turned the knife over in his hands.. "Well it's a start." He jabbed haphazardly at the _aval._ The blade was sharp, but worn to a curve from use and repeated sharpening. Knuckles watched him while opening a second fruit for himself, somewhat messily with his claws, and munching on the sticky sweet inner flesh.

"Even the fruit up here puts up a fight, is that it?" Sonic asked, eventually hacking off enough rind to taste the fruit. "What is this?"

Knuckles licked juice from his muzzle. "It's called _aval-avok_." He thought a second, then translated. "Something like 'armoured apple?'"

Sonic gouged out another piece. "Huh. Figures. Tasty though." He looked around the shelter. "So apart from chucking knives at visitors, and eating fruit that fights back, what d'you do for fun up here?"

"For fun?"

"To relax," Sonic clarified but it didn't help.

"I relax."

"Yeah?" Sonic sounded almost surprised. "How?"

How? Knuckles paused to process the question. What sort of question was 'how?' Relaxing was relaxing.

But Sonic had already waved away his confusion and changed the topic, his attention seeming to dart about almost as quickly as he did.

"You've got some great loops here!"

This time Knuckles did smile. The Island's features were an area he was far more at home with.

"Yes," he agreed. "They're impressive."

"They're fun!" Sonic stressed the last word. " D'you run through them? Are you fast enough to get round?"

Knuckles couldn't tell if the question was curiosity or challenge. Was it a tactical question? Did he really trust the hedgehog? Had Sonic seen him run? He'd mostly attacked from ambush.

After a moment he nodded though and Sonic grinned.

"Cool. That was the first thing I wanted to do when I realised how quick I could go was get round the loops. Everyone else was just interested in how they got there, history and geology and rubbish guesses about why nobody _knew_ how they got there." He put on a mock serious face and a silly deep voice and wagged his finger sternly. "They're not for playing on, Sonic." He resumed his normal voice. "But they totally _are_."

He grinned but Knuckles was still several sentences back.

"You don't know how the loops got there?" he asked.

"Uh. Noooo." Sonic drawled. "No one does, do they?"

Knuckles looked at him, nonplussed.

"I do."

He hesitated at the dumbfounded look Sonic gave him and corrected himself. "Well I know what's written down about them anyway."

Sonic's gape broadened into another grin.

"Ohhh, you are going to blow so many of those science-types theories into little bits! Well?"

Knuckles paused to gather his recollection, the wording of the story.

"It was long ago," he started. "Before the Emeralds, before the Master, before control over Chaos was even thought of. The whole world was full of Chaos, was fluid, flexible, _chaotic_ \- by definition. The landscape itself would shift and change from day to day, leap up into loops and twists. Turn and buck like a thing alive. A flicker of a change in the energy could make whole hills whipcrack into new shapes, paths suddenly run through thin air. Anything.

Sonic was listening unblinkingly, wide-eyed - perhaps imagining that lashing landscape - silent at last but Knuckles had run out of story.

"Once the Chaos was contained - mostly - in the Emeralds, the landscape stopped shifting. Even if it was in mid twist or upside down or whatever. So we have the loops."

"Hmm." Sonic seemed to be considering it. "Kinda works for me. And you think that's really what happened?"

Knuckles shrugged. "If it isn't then a lot of what else I know about this place might not be true either. It's what's written down. It's not like I've got anyone to ask."

For a moment that inexplicable dismay was back on the hedgehog's face but it didn't last.

"So," he grinned. "You want to go run them?"

Knuckles surveyed him for a moment, then, either infected by the hedgehog's whimsy, or just to see what would happen, he said, "They're not for playing on, Sonic."

Sonic rolled his eyes and staggered back, clutching his chest.

"Ooohhh you wound me! Don't go all _grown-up_ on me! What are you, like a million years old? You can't be any older than me."

Knuckles shrugged but Sonic had already rattled on in a mock childish sing-song voice.

"Please, Mr Guardian, come out and play with the nice hedgehog." He stopped short. "Wait. What? What does ' _shrug_ ' mean?"

Knuckles caught himself rolling his own eyes. "What does a shrug normally mean, Sonic?"

"You don't know how old you are?" Sonic sounded incredulous, disbelieving. Knuckles frowned. He'd given him no reason to disbelieve him, had he?

"Well, when was your birthday?"

"Uh," Knuckles wasn't sure that question got them any closer. "When I was born?"

"Nooo!" Sonic flapped a hand. "I mean like your other birthdays. You can count them can't you?"

Knuckles shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about. No one remembers being born! And unless things are far more different on the surface than I ever knew, then people only get born once!"

Sonic paused. "Oh. Right. Your folks - echidnas - they don't celebrate birthdays? I mean _anniversaries_ of birthdays. People celebrate it on the day they were born every year, y'know, cake, presents, party..."

Knuckles considered this. In spite of presents and special food it struck him as slightly morbid, celebrating the inevitable progress of another year. But Sonic's enthusiasm showed he didn't see it that way and despite himself Knuckles was curious.

"On the anniversary of the day they were born?"

"Yeah!"

"Is that when they were laid or when they were hatched?"

Sonic's jaw dropped open.

"Uh... Lai... Hatched?"

Knuckles had thought it was a simple, conversation-making question. but Sonic's answer didn't sound like an answer, it sounded confused. But maybe he just wasn't sure, hedgehogs weren't egg-laying as far as his sketchy knowledge about the surface went.

"You hatched out of an egg?" Sonic waved his hand. "Actually, is that a rude question?"

Knuckles shrugged again. It was a fact. Could facts be rude?

"Not many people who're mammals do is all." Sonic went on. "Platypuses. But I've never been a a platypus birthday party so I don't know." He frowned in thought. "I've seen birthday cards with pics of people popping out of eggs at parties for people who're birds though, so - hatched, I guess. You really don't know? You never had a birthday party?"

Knuckles shook his head.

"Well that sucks," Sonic said decidedly. "We gotta fix that. Next time."

"Next time?"

"Sure." Sonic grinned. "I'm allowed back right. I mean 'ally' yeah?"

Knuckles hesitated but the whole situation had utterly got away from him and there was clearly no threat in the hedgehog, so he nodded vaguely.

"I suppose so."

Sonic beamed and twirled around on the spot. "So we gonna run those loops?

With no good reason in hand not to, Knuckles agreed. And to his surprise he actually enjoyed himself. Sonic chattered about everything he saw and it was interesting seeing the Island through the hedgehog's eyes. It made the familiar new.

Later when Sonic had left with a loud, "See ya!"and it was quiet again, Knuckles walked back to Hidden Palace lost in thought, trying to work out whether he was pleased or not about the prospect of the hedgehog returning. He hadn't told him not to, he supposed, But Sonic was like a little piece of independent, living, mobile Chaos. No wonder he had used the Emeralds with such ease.

Disruptive.

Chaotic.

Twisting Knuckles' quiet, ordered world into loops and switchbacks. Turning it upside down.

He'd been in the hedgehog's company all day, the Master Emerald unattended, nothing more than a murmur at the back of his mind. Perhaps he had set a dangerous precedent. But even so he couldn't entirely regret the day.


	2. Beware Hedgehogs Bearing Gifts

**Continuity note: with one or two subversions I'm more or less tryingt o work round gameverse continuity – so this sits after Chaotix (which I discovered in researching has an utterly different and way more logical plot background in the Japanese translation of the manuals!) but before Adventure et al.**

* * *

Things only got more chaotic after the hedgehog left and it was hard to treat it as coincidence when one day the doorway rings led to another Island altogether, to Robotnik, and the hedgehog's metallic duplicate. But to new allies too. At least he thought so. He'd believed Espio almost at once. Would he have if he hadn't been wrong about Sonic first?

He was back on his own Island, alone again in the late afternoon sunlight, with his head still ringing from the noise and lights of Robotnik's heavily built up zones and the chatter of Vector's enthusiastic and varied team, when the hedgehog arrived again.

The fox was flying the aircraft this time but Sonic greeted him with an identical, "How you doing? What's new?" to last time, his jaw falling open as Knuckles updated him.

"They got away, Sonic," he admitted. "Robotnik and his metal hedgehog."

Sonic waved this off. "Yeah well, that's _not_ new!" He grinned. "But you made some more friends, though? That's cool, right?"

Knuckles thought about it. Friends? Like Sonic he'd met them once and that in shared danger. And yet...

"They said they'd _visit_ ," he allowed.

"That counts!" Sonic was still grinning and Tails joined him.

"Yeah," the fox said. "Then you'll have enough people to do a real birthday party." He pulled at Sonic's arm. "Show him!"

"Oh yeah." Sonic climbed halfway back into the aircraft and pulled out a large parcel. Jumping down, he presented it to Knuckles.

"Happy un-birthday!"

Knuckles blinked at him a moment then, examined the package which was very close to being as long as he was tall. It was lighter than he'd expected for the size of it.

"Open it!" Sonic encouraged.

Knuckles looked at the shiny, patterned paper.

"Just rip it!" Tails urged.

Knuckles turned his hand and neatly sliced up the length of the loosely wrapped paper and pulled it away but found himself not very much the wiser. He was holding what he could only describe as a plank. A colourful one admittedly, one which had clearly been carefully designed, one end rounded almost to a point, the other to a sort of swallowtail. One surface was patterned with a row of three raised circles which he could make nothing of.

Sonic was waiting for a reaction when Knuckles looked up and his confusion must have showed because the hedgehog's face fell.

"You've never ridden a board?" he asked. "With all these mountains, all that snow?"

Knuckles looked again at the 'board'. He'd sledged in Icecap of course, sometimes it was the quickest way around especially if he needed to move supplies. This looked considerably more high tech though.

"It's for snow?" he asked.

"Better!" Sonic reached over and touched something on the board which made the pattern light up and buzz with energy. Knuckles almost lost his grip on the thing as some force projected from it pushed against him.

"Put it down," Sonic urged and he did so to find the thing floated a few inches above the ground.

"You can ride it on anything, not just snow." In demonstration, Sonic jumped on top of the board, kicked off and propelled himself in a wide circle around Knuckles, learning hard into the curve.

"See?"

"It's fun!" Tails added. "Try it!"

Sonic jumped back off and waved at the board.

Uncertain of exactly what was fun about rushing round in circles, Knuckles hesitated.

"How does it float?"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "A guy who lives on a whole _island_ that floats wants to know that?"

"It's not chaos energy," Knuckles said tapping the thing with a toe curiously.

"Does it matter?" Sonic asked. "I dunno how it floats. Science. Ask Tails." Before Knuckles could comply or Tails could open his mouth Sonic had carried on. "Actually don't ask Tails or else he'll tell you and we'll be here all night before anyone's even had one go."

Knuckles glanced at Tails who seemed entirely un-offended by this.

"Just try it already?" Sonic went on,

Knuckles decided obeying was less effort than arguing and put one foot on the centre of the board. Getting enthusiastic nods from the others he shifted his weight onto that foot - at which point the board shot out from under him, dumping him on his backside with a startled yell of protest.

He leapt up and looked round. Tails was wincing and Sonic had clapped both hands over his mouth though Knuckles suspected he was hiding laughter not dismay. Tails confirmed this by jabbing the hedgehog in the ribs.

"It's not funny, Sonic!"

Sonic pulled his hands away from his face now outright smirking. "Oh, you are so wrong!"

The fox looked unbothered by this as well and went on talking as Knuckles picked himself up and ran his tail through his hands checking for injury.

"There's almost no friction so you need to go with it or it'll go without you!" Tails explained. "Sometimes it helps to have bit of momentum and jump on." He gave the floating board a nudge with his foot to start it sliding over the ground then ran a few steps after it and jumped on to repeat the same short circuit Sonic had done.

He jumped off and looked expectantly at Knuckles who sighed, gave the board a kick, ran after it and jumped.

But he'd misjudged it, and as his weight came down on his leading foot, the nose of the board ploughed into the ground and he was catapulted forward and off.

He tucked into the fall, rolled and came back up on his feet in one movement to whirl on the watching pair with a scowl.

"Is this some sort of joke?"

"No!" It was a chorus and Sonic had managed to get the grin off his face.

"Honestly, you'll get the hang of it. Tell the truth, we both went tail over tip I dunno how many times at first."

Tails was nodding. "Yeah, Sonic wipes out all the time when he's trying to do something new too."

"Huh, thanks for that, Tails!" Sonic looked outraged and waved him off. "Grab the other boards from the 'plane why don't you instead of tattling!"

Tail grinned, almost laughing, but did obediently climb back into the aircraft while Knuckles tried again. Landed too far back and the board shot off out ahead of him again. Too far forward and had to leap off into a stumbling run before it flipped again. Sonic offered random words of advice, and once Tails returned with their own boards, demonstrations.

The first time he did land square where he meant to Knuckles was so surprised he flung out both arms with another yell as he coasted the length of the meadow then leaped off feeling oddly triumphant for such a trivial thing. To his surprise Sonic and Tails seemed equally delighted. Sonic spun in a circle and thrust the palm of his hand high in the air.

"Gimme!"

Knuckles looked from him to the board and back, baffled. The hedgehog's shoulders slumped and his head lowered - ears drooping in exaggerated despair though he kept his arm extended.

"Tails?" he said, waggling his fingers without looking up, "Help a 'hog left hanging?"

Tails laughed and took a run up at Sonic, leaping into the air and kicking up his heels to slap his own palm against the hedgehog's.

Sonic perked up at once and Knuckles shook his head in involuntary amusement.

"If you wanted me to hit you, Sonic, you only had to ask."

Sonic raised both palms this time but in a warding gesture which didn't match the smile on his face.

"How about we hit the high ground instead?"

Knuckles raised his eyebrows. "We're at nine and a half thousand feet, it's all high ground." But he knew his own words for procrastination. Messing about down here he could only embarrass himself. Falling on the steep, rocky hills could mean an injury he couldn't afford.

Sonic pulled a face.

"Come ooonnnn. You're not telling me fighting huge giant robots is fine, deathtraps round every corner are fine, but you're worried about falling on your butt on a few slopes are you!"

"It's my neck, not my backside I'm worried about, hedgehog," Knuckles shot back. "Who do you think will keep this place safe if I'm injured?"

Sonic waved a hand, carelessly. "Uh... Me? Tails? Your new pals?" He tipped his head sideways. "You can't think we'd just go, 'Whoops, Knux broke his face, off we go home, good luck!'?"

He straightened and lifted one hand to shoulder height palm out. "I solemnly promise that I, Sonic the Hedgehog, will defend this Island and its big shiny rock to the utter end should Knuckles the Echidna, its great and powerful Guardian, faceplant off a mountain."

He lowered his hand. "'kay?"

Knuckles looked at him, trying to assess this claim. That Sonic was capable of fighting off a direct attack was fairly clear. That he'd have any perseverance in _waiting_ for such attacks, actually _guardin_ g was less so. The fox cub had more steadiness to him in spite of his youth. Eagerness and earnestness and unflustered by Sonic's antics the fox would hold the hedgehog to a promise if anyone could, Knuckles concluded.

Sonic had already taken his agreement as given and was talking about where to go. Knuckles tried to work out whether the grass of Marble Garden would be better or worse than the snow in Ice Cap as far as landing went. There were more hazards In Ice Cap but the snow was perhaps softer and nothing there was as steep as the steepest of the hills in Marble Garden. The volcano was right out of course despite Sonic throwing it in as an option.

Knuckles caught himself. When had he started decided _where_ instead of _whether_ to do this? But Sonic had scooped up all three boards and was already moving and there was no way he was letting the hedgehog out of his sight and it was Marble Garden they were heading for.

They came to a stop not entirely at the highest point but close to it and Sonic was pushing the board at him and Tails was already poised beside his and he _could_ refuse, of course he could but really the time for deciding that had been and gone and part of him was already looking at the slope, eyeing the path he'd need to take, working out how he'd need to move his weight on the board.

The Master Emerald was tranquil at the back of his mind undisturbed by his indecision, the Island safe in the sky, Sonic and Tails grinning at him, the fox in enthusiasm, the hedgehog in challenge both clearly oblivious to the decision he was trying to make.

He looked once more at them, at the slope, and accepted the board.

Sonic gave a tiny whoop and dropped his own board into a starting position.

"You go first," he said. "Me and Tails will catch up. That why if you do wipe out we can stop and help." He paused a split second before adding. "Or y'know point and laugh, whichever."

"Sonic!" Tails admonished. Sonic winked.

"Remember," Tails added. "If you think you're going to fall just lean into it, keep your weight low."

Knuckles nodded, not sure he wanted spectators whichever of Sonic's reasons was the true one but didn't argue. He put the board on the ground, concentrated furiously on how he'd managed to successfully get it going and set off.

He caught his balance easily this time but the speed built quickly and was breathtaking. He crouched, leaned forward against all instinct which told him to draw back from that racing ground and felt his position stabilise on the board. Suddenly the ride was not just breathtaking but exhilarating, the wind in his face so strong he could feel it in his quills, realised he could probably lift his feet and fall straight into a glide if he wanted to. He crouched lower and flattened them close to his head instead, felt himself accelerate as he altered the drag. The wind battered at him and for a moment as he followed the curve towards to the bottom he felt himself losing it on the bend, shifted his weight hurriedly and a bit haphazardly, swerving for a moment from side to side, before stabilising, pell mell back on the straight, breath whipped away and pulse hammering with adrenaline at the near miss.

He nearly lost it again at the point the steep slope abruptly flattened out, not quite bending his knees enough and for a moment losing contact with one foot. The lack of friction meant the speed reduced only slowly but he leaned in cautiously to bring the board around in a wide arc back toward the hill in time to see Sonic and Tails complete their run, crisscrossing each other, the hedgehog leaping into the air to twist and flip the board.

They turned inside of him and came to a stop.

"Well?" asked Sonic at once. "Fun or Not Fun?"

Knuckles opened his mouth, automatically preparing an answer that brushed away the question, but he was still breathless and in the second before he spoke his face betrayed him and Sonic was pointing.

"Ooohhh it's _another_ smile! Have we set some sort of record?"

Tails frowned at the hedgehog while Knuckles ignored him and looked back up the slope. He hadn't fallen at least, but he knew he could do it better if he tried again. He glanced at the western sky where the angle of the sunlight would soon slide below the Island and turn the ground to shadows.

Sonic followed his gaze and guessed its cause. "There's time!"

"I should..." Knuckles stopped because he wasn't sure what he should be doing. He had wanted to ride the hill again but the moment Sonic had suggested it as well, he realised how quickly the afternoon had slipped away. Again. What would he be doing if the hedgehog wasn't here? Checking over the Island in the last of the light? Preparing an evening meal? Already back underground at the Master Emerald's side?

"You should...?" Sonic mimicked. When Knuckles didn't answer at once he started throwing out suggestions. "Go and sit on your rock? Bend your knees more? Chill out?"

"Sonic!" Tails protested. He looked from Sonic to Knuckles. "We probably _will_ lose the light in a minute." Sonic made a face but Tails went on. "Knuckles, how about you show us a cool way back to the Tornado? A route we can use the boards on?"

That he could easily justify to himself. Knuckles smiled at the fox cub for his solution and after a moment's thought led the three of them back.

The silence after Sonic and Tails had left was noticeable but not entirely unwelcome. Knuckles had to admit he'd overall enjoyed the day but he was more tired than could be accounted for by the exercise or the tumbles and it was soothing to wander alone back to the quiet light of the Master Emerald.

He propped the deactivated board against a step, sat back, and smiled.

* * *

 **Yeah tiny bit of game continuity subverted here 'cause the clear implication in Sonic Riders is that the Extereme Gear boards are new to everyone – but really that'd've been bedlam even allowing for superhero-ish refelxes and skills - there'd have been a lot more faceplanting had no one ever used them before! So I feel justified in just inventing something something similar!**


	3. What a Year Does

**Soo... It's _completely_ unclear to me how long after Sonic 3 the first 'Adventure' game is supposed to happen and Sega it turns out are hopelessly slack in keeping track of characters ages in any sort of consistent way. So I've gone with a year for not better reason than I want to and because the longer it is the sillier it makes Knuckles look for falling even for a moment for the "Sonic is after your Emerald" routine. **

* * *

The silences between the hedgehog's visits were always striking, but Knuckles found they became almost essential to him as time raced on.

Perhaps the hedgehog had drawn attention to the Island and its Emerald, or perhaps, Knuckles occasionally wondered, it was he himself who'd changed because he found himself involved in Sonic's battles far more often than he could explain. On occasion yes it had been the Master Emerald at risk, but more often it was not. He could tell himself that he fought because who knew what Robotnik would do next if not stopped - that he more than likely would turn his attention, sooner or later back to the Island, but really wasn't that only an excuse, not a reason?

And every time he did it it got harder not to do it next time. He owed Sonic still for that first error let alone others since.

Since then they'd fought together so often it was impossible to say who was the more often helper or helped. It wasn't a debt you could repay. Saving someone's life after they'd saved yours didn't cancel the debt, or negate the bond, it tightened it.

How many times had that bond been tightened this year?

But he couldn't regret it.

A year. He knew it was roughly that though it felt more, but couldn't have guessed the date until his jog back to Hidden Palace from his circuit of the Island's edge was interrupted by the becoming-familiar sound of the Tornado's engine. Knuckles still didn't really see the point of marking the number of years since you'd hatched, but there was not denying that the year since he'd met Sonic had been unlike any one that had come before it and perhaps that alone warranted acknowledgement.

He stopped to watch Tails land and Sonic leap out almost before the aircraft had come to a stop.

"Brrr!" the hedgehog said by way of greeting. "Wasn't it warmer the last time we did this?"

Knuckles shrugged. Some autumns were warmer than others.

Tails had followed Sonic out of the aircraft, handing down a parcel and a large cardboard box which he handled carefully.

Sonic grinned.

"Oh yeah - happy birthday! Betcha thought I'd forget!"

"I didn't think you'd forget," Knuckles said. Though he had wondered if it had been a passing novelty for the hedgehog. Or if his most recent mistaking of his intentions would have convinced Sonic his efforts to maintain contact outside of crises were not worth it. He was strangely pleased that neither appeared true.

Tails smiled as well. "Happy birthday, Knuckles! Or un-birthday!"

"Thank you." Knuckles hesitated. Was he supposed to take the parcel and box?

"But can we do this indoors?" Sonic pre-empted him. "We don't all have Tails' pelt."

Knuckles shrugged. "I was on my way inside."

He led the way through the concealed entrance, dropping down into the slope and cutting under the volcano.

Tails and Sonic looked around with interest.

"We came through here so fast last time!" Tails said. "It's prettier like this - you cleared all the traps?"

"Only Robotnik's - the Island has plenty of its own," Knuckles said and frowned realising how instantly he'd answered. How much trust that answer implied.

Sonic had stopped mid step. "Tell me the ground is going to stay up?"

Knuckles shot him a look. "Of course it will." He paused, watching with amusement as the hedgehog lowered his foot with dramatic, exaggerated caution and added. "You're with me."

"Hmmph. And we're trusted to be allowed back into the oh so secret Shiny Stone Storeroom are we?"

Knuckles stared at him, the words matching his thoughts so closely as to be unsettling. And Sonic did have every reason to question how much he was trusted. Knuckles knew how easily he himself could still doubt it, so the hedgehog even in his blissful self-confidence couldn't be entirely unaware of how fragile that trust was.

After a moment he made himself relax. "Well, I'm assuming robbing someone on their _birthday_ is frowned upon, so yes." He paused for effect, unable to resist returning the hedgehog's teasing for once, and added, "This time."

Sonic gave a indignant snort but then was distracted by where he'd realised they were and turned away.

"Still keeping the cool hedgehog pic on the wall then!" He cast a look over his shoulder for Knuckles' reaction.

"It _is_ the wall, Sonic, I'm sort of stuck with it."

"Hedgehog décor! Every home should have one." Sonic grinned. "And every weird underground ancient templey thing too."

"Are you done, Sonic?" Knuckles asked, his tolerance for Sonic's antics about reached.

Both Sonic and Tails were still examining the picture though and Knuckles found himself forced to wait.

"You were convinced pretty quickly I was the bad guy y'know?" Sonic said, after a moment, turning and looking at Knuckles in what seemed genuine curiosity.

Knuckles looked away. He didn't need telling that and clearly his more recent misjudgement had not entirely been dismissed from the hedgehog's mind either.

"I know," Knuckles said quietly when he realised Sonic was expecting a response.

"I mean it's not even me grabbing the thing." Sonic peered back at the design.

" _I know!_ All right? I misinterpreted it. I know that! _"_

How could he not know it? Over a year later and he still woke at night with the sight of that dreadful tearing gap between the Emerald and the altar as Robotnik lifted it away. With the sick, empty, feeling in his stomach that was fear and failure and falling. A nightmare now compounded and muddled together with the sight and shrieking sense of it shattered into pieces more recently.

Tails whispered something urgently at Sonic who looked round suddenly. Knuckles forced himself to meet his eyes. Sonic looked startled for some reason, but it passed to be replaced quickly with a smile.

"Hey. Sorry. That wasn't meant to be be a 'let's all blame Knuckles for reading his picture back to front' moment. I mean, it was ages ago anyway." He stopped to smirk, his careful reassuring tone vanishing in an instant to be replaced with a wink. "You caught on much quicker last time round!"

Sonic's tone was light and careless, but Knuckles lowered his gaze again, almost more shamed by the hedgehog's apparent forgiveness than he would have been by his resentment. Shamed by his own subconscious which every so often placed the laughing hedgehog in his Emerald-lost nightmares to steal from him.

It wasn't true. It never happened. He trusted Sonic.

He thought he did.

Sonic had turned back to the picture and went on, "It's just - to me that looks like it could have gone either way - So why _didn't_ you jump Robotnik instead of me?"

Knuckles looked up. He owed him an answer at the very least, but it seemed so foolish with hindsight he could barely mumble it.

"You're on the right of the picture, Sonic."

"Huh?"

Knuckles ran his hand through his quills, distractedly. Explained.

"The pictures aren't just pictures they're symbols. Some things, some symbols and ideas come up over and again and _mean_ things. There are many pictures of battles and in all of them the Guardians stand sentinel on the left side of the picture and the aggressor attacks from the other."

Sonic gaped at him.

"That's it? You decided to try and smash my head in because I'm on the wrong side of the picture? You do realise that's a damn weird world-view you've got there!"

Shame shifted to irritation and Knuckles glared back. "Is it? And is it more or less ' _weird'_ than a thousand year old picture coming true?"

Sonic paused, mouth still open to retort, Tails gave a thoughtful nod, and Knuckles continued.

"Is the prophecy being true more or less improbable than the symbolism being true? Why in all the skies would I believe one bit of it and not the other?"

Sonic closed his mouth. Opened it again.

"Point," he allowed. "But this one had that bit wrong, huh?"

Knuckles shook his head. "No," he heard the bitter understanding in his own voice. "It didn't. I've had plenty of time to think about it and I worked it out. Robotnik is on the Guardian's side of the picture because the Guardian - me - was fighting alongside him and so you attacked us both. The picture's wrong because I was wrong."

Sonic stared at it. "But... You only... I mean.. Uh, okay that's weird. Does that even make sense?"

Knuckles lifted his hands. "The stories are full of prophecies that make themselves true."

Sonic considered this. "Yeah, okay. I guess I've heard the odd story like that. Never got them then either, and Tails' explanations don't help!"

"It's a paradox," Tails put in.

"Yeah, that." Sonic said. Knuckles considered asking for further clarification, but remembered Sonic's previous warning about encouraging Tails to talk science and refrained. While he was still thinking of the next appropriate remark Sonic spoke again.

"Meh. Weirdness! So, more importantly, are we doing presents and cake here or somewhere a bit cosier? I mean it's not that it's not kinda cool to have a big pic of yourself all glowy up on the wall but it's kinda freaky to have it eyeballing you while you eat!"

Knuckles shook his head. "I was on my way back to the Emerald." After a moment he added. "It was you who wanted to sightsee," and smiled minutely when Sonic huffed in indignation.

"Lead on then!" Sonic made a sweeping gesture towards the tunnel. "I'm not going to be first, you've probably installed exploding welcome mats or something."

In fact, after a quick check on the Master Emerald, Knuckles led them past it and off to an alcove nearby where he kept a few things, including, at the moment, the board Sonic had brought him last time. Sonic smiled at the sight of it and pointed.

"Gotten any better yet?"

Knuckles considered him. "Maybe you'll find out later."

"Sonic!" Tails nudged him. "Cake!"

"Oh yeah." Sonic took the larger box from Tails. "Here. Happy birthday!"

Knuckles took the box and with care and after some examination opened it. A sweet smell flooded out and his eyes widened.

Sonic laughed. "You look like Tails, at the first party we had! Have you never had cake before?"

"No."

Sonic looked truly appalled. "Really?"

"Where would I get cake?" Knuckles asked, exasperated, staring at the object. He couldn't begin to guess what foodstuffs had gone into it. Bread was more than enough of a challenge and barely achievable up here.

Tails was grinning. "You'll love it. And this is a chocolate one too! Cut it, Sonic!"

Sonic looked around. "Erm. Knux, you may have to open this one first." He handed over the other, more brightly wrapped parcel. This time Knuckles tore the paper off promptly to find a slim box which latched open. Inside lay a slender but well made knife. he glanced up momentarily surprised and impressed with the practicality of the gift.

"It's not much," Sonic said, sounded almost anxious. "But we thought about it and I remembered the last time I ate up here you gave me those rock-hard apple things and the knife you were using was pretty wrecked and I thought maybe practical was better?"

Knuckles nodded. "It is. Thank you." He stared at the hedgehog for a moment. He wouldn't have guessed at either the attentive observation or the thoughtfulness that the gift implied.

"Really," he added.

He picked up the knife and turned it over his hands. The handle was pale unvarnished but highly polished wood, almost as smooth through careful making as his own was through long use. The blade was bright and well made.

"It's kinda overkill for cake," Sonic admitted. "But I sorta forgot to bring anything for that so I guess you'll have to go ahead and christen it here and now unless you've got anything else?"

Knuckles surveyed the large flat cylinder of cake, slightly unsure where to start and then sliced into it, cutting off an edge.

Tails laughed and Knuckles frowned.

"Well that's one approach," Sonic said. "Mostly people go for wedges when it's round cake." He held out his had for the knife and demonstrated.

"All right." Knuckles retrieved the knife and cut another wedge. "Why?"

"Uh... Dunno. So you don't get nothing but a mouthful of icing? Look, just eat it will you?"

Knuckles cut a third slice and retaining one, passed the others out. Tails started into his at once but Sonic waited, watching Knuckles. Knuckles gave him an almost suspicious look in return in case this 'cake' was some obscure joke but then bit into his slice.

His eyes widened and his mouth very nearly dropped open again. But that would have risked losing the cake and he _really_ didn't want to do that. He chewed slowly, and swallowed.

"Good?" Sonic asked, a grin all over his face.

"Is there _anything_ in that except sugar?" Knuckles asked, but he was already smiling himself. He'd never tasted anything so sweet in his life.

Sonic shrugged. "Chocolate?"

Tails laughed. Knuckles wasn't entirely sure why but was more interested in his next mouthful of cake. No wonder Sonic had so much energy if this was the sort of thing he ate routinely. But he'd said birthday cakes were for special occasions hadn't he? So maybe this was an exception after all. Either way it was worth it.

He watched the hedgehog as they both ate, no closer, a full year later to understanding him.

Any ally? A friend as he claimed?

Someone who laughed at him for misunderstanding trivial nonsense about the surface but also laughed off life-threatening misunderstandings of loyalty.

Who seemed to go out of his way to provoke him into anger, but went to equally insistent annoying lengths to do something about it if he formed the impression he was _unhappy_.

"More cake?" Sonic waved sticky fingers under his nose. "What's this, some sugar-high-daydream? Come back to us, Knux!"

Knuckles pulled his attention back to the actual physical presence of the hedgehog.

Perhaps there was no understanding him at all.

But the cake was good and for a while he could think only of that.


	4. Cake or Chaos

**Light on references this time apart from the odd extra character discussed. But sometimes after Adventure 2 and before Heroes...**

* * *

The next autumn Knuckles didn't doubt that one of Sonic's now frequent appearances on the Island would coincide with his adopted birthday and although he'd again lost track of the exact day, he suspected that Sonic hadn't and it was less startling than usual to find him and Tails arriving on the Island.

He strolled across the grassland to their landing place, intending this lack of haste to be a signal of trust and welcome. A sign they weren't thought of as a threat, didn't need intercepting.

Sonic though was tapping his foot by the time Knuckles reached the aircraft.

"I was getting ready to eat your cake myself!"

"You wouldn't!" Tails said sounding outraged...

Sonic winked. "Not as long as I'm certain of getting a slice. Happy birthday, Knux. There's a card from the others too." He handed over a large envelope along with the brightly wrapped parcel, though he retained his grip on the cake.

"Keep that the right way up," he warned as he released the present into Knuckles' hands.

"They'd have come," Tails added. "I thought they _should_ all come and we should have a surprise party."

"But it's kinda hard to surprise you here," pointed out Sonic. "And being mobbed didn't seem like it'd be your kinda thing anyway. So it's just us."

Knuckles opened the envelope. It contained a colourful piece of card folded into two like a book cover with no book. On the front was an egg with a large split running down it and a banner reading 'happy birthday' above it. He raised his eyebrows at Sonic.

"Y'know how hard it was to get one without a specific species of person popping out?" Sonic asked "There are no cards with echidnas on!"

Knuckles wondered how that could possibly be a source of such surprised indignation but didn't comment except to say thank you.

He examined the inside of the 'birthday card', trying to decipher the names.

"I think Rouge left a smoochy kiss," Sonic smirked.

Knuckles slapped the card shut abruptly, well before Sonic could check. He would have given him a detailed piece of his mind regarding the bat but Tails cut across both of them.

"Open the present! It was my idea this time!"

Knuckles put the present down on the ground first since Sonic had been so insistent about being careful with it. Only the bottom half seemed to have any weight to it and he tore the paper from the top first. There was more wrapping beneath but only transparent floaty stuff clearly meant to protect was was now visible as a plant.

Knuckles pulled this second layer of wrapping off too and smiled as he recognised the plant. A well grown young grapevine.

He looked up. "Thank you, Tails. And Sonic," he added.

"It's a variety that supposed to grow well at high altitudes," Tails explained. "I asked specially."

"I can think of one or two perfect spots," Knuckles assured him.

"They said it will take two years before there's actual grapes on it though."

Tails sounded apologetic but Knuckles shrugged.

"I'll be here."

Tails looked like he was about to say something else but Knuckles waved it off. "I'll let you know when they fruit. You should try them too."

"Speaking of waiting for food..." Sonic tapped his foot. "What about this cake?"

Knuckles didn't need asking twice - his mouth watered at the memory and he reached for it eagerly - Sonic grinned at him, held onto it just long enough to make Tails start towards it as well then relinquished it.

Carrying it carefully, Knuckles resisted the urge to just sit down with it right there and then and instead led the way to a shelter and cut it into large wedges. It was every bit as sweet as he remembered.

They sat licking their lips after two pieces each but Sonic was fidgeting moments later. "So we going for a run, find a spot for your plant? Or ride the boards? Run the loops? See if you've got any more freaky pictures hidden away?"

Knuckles stood as well. He felt accountably restless, almost fidgety himself, but he didn't move. Hesitated instead.

"Actually," he started. "I have something for you two as well this time."

Sonic blinked at him. "Er... that's not how it works!"

Knuckles hesitated again but then a thought struck him. "Count it as your actual birthday present then since I've never brought you one."

Tails shrugged. "Seems fair, Sonic."

Sonic laughed. "Okay. Where's this mystery present then?"

"It's not wrapped up," Knuckles admitted.

Sonic made a horrified face which dissolved into amusement. "Well since it's not technically, really a birthday present we'll let that pass."

Knuckles thought about pointing out that neither was his, really, whichever definition they'd settled on. Instead he retrieved what he wanted from behind a crate in the corner of the shelter.

Two sets of ears perked forward in curiosity.

"A book?" Sonic said and Tails leaned in closer to look as well.

Knuckles reached over to open it in Sonic's hands and pointed. "There's the story about the loops. I didn't remember all of it to tell it well but it's there and some others."

He looked up from the book to watch Sonic's face. He'd seemed entertained by the story when Knuckles had told it and Knuckles himself enjoyed the tales but he wasn't at all sure if they made a good gift.

Tails had pulled the book out of Sonic's hands and was reading the titles aloud, clearly it was a hit with him at least and Sonic was smiling at his enthusiasm.

Knuckles relaxed slightly as Tails read.

"Why the World Curled Once - that's the loops story, right?" He looked up and Knuckles nodded. "The Mountainous Machine. The Echidna Who Learned To Fly. The Guardian Who Raced The Wind - Sonic you've got competition!"

Tails grinned. "It's brilliant, Knuckles! You picked which stories to put in?"

Sonic looked from Tails to Knuckles and back at the book. "This is handwritten. You put it together with stories for us?"

"And translated them," Tails concluded correctly making Sonic look down at the book again.

Knuckles shifted and looked back at the book himself, uncomfortable under the sudden acute attention it and he were getting.

"Well I don't exactly have a..." he floundered. "a birthday present shop up here. I had to improvise."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sonic shaking his head.

"You're an idiot, Knuckles."

Knuckles snapped his head back up and was about to give Sonic back every bit as sharp an answer when the hedgehog bounded the three paces between them and shook his shoulder.

"You don't get it do you? Tails is right, it's awesome! We love it. You rock at present giving, okay?"

Knuckles met Sonic's eyes warily, half suspecting he was being made fun of. After a moment, finding no clue, he smiled back cautiously.

"Beginner's luck?"

Sonic laughed but Knuckles stopped hearing it before he finished because something was wrong. The three of them were no longer alone on the Island and the intrusion bellowed at his senses.

He was at the door before he remembered the others were even there. He barely registered their startled expressions.

"Go," he said, not wanting to spare the time to explain. "I need to deal with this. Sorry. Thank you."

He rushed through the words, itching to be gone, to be running for the intruders' location as every instinct demanded.

"Knuckles, wait. What? Deal with what?"

Knuckles was already sprinting but Sonic kept pace effortlessly, with enough breath to spare for questions.

"What's going on?"

Knuckles flicked a glance at the hedgehog running at his side. "Intruders."

"Here?" Sonic asked but it was clearly not a question that required an answer and Knuckles ignored it. Sonic's voice when he spoke again was indignant. "And you thought we'd just leave you to it? Sometimes you really _are_ an idiot."

Knuckles accelerated. He didn't have time for this conversation. Expecting Sonic to fight alongside him on the surface in the hedgehog's own territory was nothing at all like expecting him to stay up here to do Knuckles' job for him.

He ignored him and looked up as he crested the rise and looked down the slopes. Two aircraft were visible, one touching down, the other circling above it. Top cover maybe. Perhaps they didn't intend to land that one at all. He'd need to be careful. It was a good strategy, but one he'd seen before. He'd need to intercept the intruders from the craft on the ground before they reached the edge of the jungle though, it would be a poor place to fight, especially if, as was often the case they'd come with ranged weapons while he relied on his own fists and the Island's wards. He reached out for those wards, the energy of the Master Emerald flowing through them, disturbed as he himself was, but ready.

"So what's the plan?" Tails had caught them up and Knuckles almost jumped at the suddenness of the question, he'd been so focussed on the task at hand.

But there was no more time even to persuade them to stay out of it so he just shrugged.

"Stop them."

He launched himself down the slope without waiting for an answer, though he heard Sonic's anyway.

"Works for me!" The hedgehog passed him in a sprint, his tone almost gleeful.

From behind him, Tails shouted. "Knux, you want a launch?"

Knuckles glanced back and saw Tails just over his shoulder, reaching out both hands. "For the flying one?"

Knuckles glanced from the fox to the craft which was still airborne and realised what the fox intended.

He jumped, grabbed his wrists firmly and Tails shot upwards with a burst of energy he surely couldn't sustain for long - but didn't need to. As the climb slowed Knuckles let go and twisted into a fast glide, crashing into the flying craft fists first and clinging on. The pilot jinked and threw the thing about but Knuckles' claws were firmly embedded in the metal. He clambered hand over hand to the rear and holed an engine with one blow. The craft spun wildly and he was slammed back against it, his claws slipping and dragging a long tear the length of the thing. The second of the two engines fell silent and the pilot dived hard for the ground.

Knuckles abandoned his grip and glided down in time to see Tails dive-bomb the two lizards who'd run from the stricken machine. The fox grabbed one from above and swung him round, letting the torque from his spinning tails do the work and launched him against a tree.

Knuckles realised he was spectating and glanced hastily around for the attackers from the first craft trying to judge which threat was the greater. A cloud of dirt and broken branches flying through the air gave testimony to where Sonic was fighting and Knuckles decided the more pressing matter was the intruder that Tails was now chasing across the grass. Knuckles reached him first and sent him crashing to the ground.

Two per aircraft? He glanced back to where Sonic was and the dust was settling. Was that all of them then? He glanced, counting the dazed bodies on the ground.

He'd almost started to compose himself to round them up when one of them stirred, raised a weapon.

"Tails!" Knuckles yelled a warning even as he started running. The fox was in the line of fire. But he'd taken off vertically at the sound of Knuckles' warning cry, and Knuckles who'd been running to knock him clear was now running straight at the weapon, heard it fire, knew it was too late to dodge, reached for the Master Emerald's energy because that was the only thing that might save him even if it was too late to avoid the blast.

Something hit him hard in the back, which he was distantly aware in the time-slowed-alarm of the moment was wrong because the shot had come from ahead of him, but he was falling forward and someone had yelled in pain and it wasn't him and the smell of burned fur filled his nose but he'd already reached for the healing energy of the Emerald, already wrapped it around himself and it was Sonic clutching him and the energy was slipping over and around and between them and the hedgehog was wrapped in it as well and he gave a startled little gasp and staggered back to his feet pulling Knuckles with him.

Knuckles stared at the hedgehog who was singed but unscathed, and couldn't process it. Had no time to anyway because if one of the attackers was well enough to still be firing on them, he needed to be moving. Needed to stop them.

"What was that?" Sonic asked, even as they leapt again into the fight. "It felt like rings. Sort of. Not much. Like chaos emeralds. A bit. Was that the-"

"Not now, Sonic!"

Knuckles veered off, looping around to check the ones Sonic had knocked down were still out.

A few minutes was all it took before all four attackers were sat, tied with their own safety harnesses from the aircraft and under three watchful pairs of eyes.

Sonic glanced away from them, back at Knuckles, then brushed soot out of his fur.

"You want to tell me _now_ what that was and why we're not toast?"

"I don't know."

Sonic gave him a sceptical look.

"You don't know what happened or you don't know if you want to tell me?"

"Both!" Knuckles snapped. "Since you ask! I didn't plan for it to happen. I wasn't thinking-"

Sonic's muzzle twitched and Knuckles broke off.

"Oohhhh! Knuckles, you can't go throwing me an opening line like that..." Sonic smirked. " You weren't thinking? You...?"

Knuckles lifted a fist in warning. "Start with me, Sonic and it'll take more than chaos energy to put your head back on your shoulders!"

Whether Sonic would have continued or not, Knuckles didn't find out because Tails stepped between them.

"Guys? Really? Now?" He pointed at at the now rather forlorn attackers. "You don't think you might want to finish up with this lot first?"

Knuckles glared at the foursome. "I ought to tip them over the side."

Sonic blanched. "Err. Overkill? Maybe me and Tails should just take them back to the surface and hand them over to the police?"

"Without mentioning this place in any shape or form," added Tails. "Betcha they didn't come by those flyers legally."

Knuckles nodded brusquely. "Fine."

"Right," Sonic said looking uncertain. "Okay." He looked around. "I guess we'll bundle them up in the back of their ship - the one you didn't smash up I mean - and Tails can follow me in the Tornado."

Tails nodded. "Sure."

Sonic looked back at Knuckles. "Sorry, buddy. That's kinda not how how I thought your birthday would go. We'll come back okay? And you should absolutely definitely come to mine next time."

Knuckles looked from the hedgehog to the wreck of the intruders' ship. Now Sonic wanted to talk about him leaving the Island? As if this wasn't the very reason he so rarely did or could? And Sonic thought he could do it for a party?

Sonic followed his gaze when he didn't answer. "Err. Or I guess we could have it here...? Or something?"

Knuckles sighed. Sonic would do whatever Sonic wanted to do. Right now what mattered was getting rid of the latest intruders and clearing up the mess left behind.

He watched Sonic and Tails leave and began on that second task. His mind running back through the events as he worked, breaking the crashed ship up into parts and dragging them to the edge to cast over into the sea.

He was trying to work out how the fight would have gone in the absence of Sonic and Tails. Four attackers across two ships was far from insurmountable, and perhaps he'd have been more focussed. It was hard to work out how much their help had balanced the almighty distraction of having them there at all.

Sonic had knocked him away from the laser blast but he'd only still been in the way of it because he'd tried to warn Tails.

Sonic clearly saw no difference between that fight and those they'd had against Robotnik on the surface.

Knuckles did.

It wasn't a solvable problem.

He let it go.

More interesting was the fact that the hedgehog had got away unscathed. He _had_ been hit. Knuckles was certain. Sonic had known it and he'd yelled. Knuckles had expected to be hit himself, had already reacted but somehow the energy he'd intended to heal an injury that had never materialised had healed the hedgehog instead.

It hadn't been on purpose, he doubted he could repeat it, didn't know how it had happened, but on some level the Master Emerald accepted Sonic's presence fighting alongside its Guardian. There was no way such a thing could have happened otherwise.

Knuckles surveyed the area where the fight had taken place. It was as free of evidence of the disruption as he could make it.

He walked back to the shelter. There was cake left, and his new vine needed planting out and the book he'd intended for Sonic and Tails lay on a crate, left behind in the scurry to intercept the intruders.

Knuckles picked it up, still open to the last page of the story of the loops. Those imposing shapes on the landscape. Evidence written in stone of the sheer force of chaos uncontained, which Sonic saw as a playground.

Perhaps the differences between them were as unbridgeable as the differences in their outlooks on the world.

Knuckles stared at the page.

 _Though track and trail had flailed, chaos-caused, to seek the sky and frozen so. Though all was new and known and unknown paths alike now trailed away and turned or failed. In time all curling trails were tracked and mapped and known, the world relearned anew._

Knuckles stared at the words, then closed the book and put it safely aside.

They'd come back for it.

He knew them well enough to know that.

He'd learned that much.

That and that you could get used to anything.

Even chaotic hedgehogs.


	5. Not a Party Animal

_**Sometimes approaching Heroes - kinda in two minds how close... Close.**_

* * *

It had been a ridiculous idea but it had worked. Knuckles spun like a discus thrower and launched Sonic at the monstrous robot. Sonic hurtled through the air, twisting the momentum into a lethal spin that crashed straight through the upper chassis of the machine, leaving a sparking, smoking hole.

He uncurled in mid-air, a hand lashed out to catch what would have been an ear if the thing had been alive and he swung himself up onto its shoulder as it swayed and staggered, trampling the low shrubs and cliff-top plants that filled the field behind Tails' workshop. A tangled, torn and crumpled banner that had once read 'happy birthday' trailed around its ankles.

Sonic cupped his hands and bellowed into the 'ear'.

"Hey! Uglybolts! Don't y'know you're gatecrashing a party!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes at this byplay and from somewhere behind him Tails brought the Tornado diving in, strafing at the robot from the knees up. Sonic waved and whooped despite being still stood atop the thing, keeping his balance with careless confidence and pulling faces at the robot even as it listed well past the vertical and started to stagger.

Tails came in again and Sonic crouched to leap, clearly intending to ride on the wing down to safety. Except that in the second his legs straightened to propel him away, the robot's huge hand snapped up with a last burst of power and snatched him from his perch.

"Sonic!" Tails yelled banking away but unable or unwilling to risk firing again. He could hardly blow the machine up with Sonic still firmly held by it. But it was falling anyway and getting crushed by or beneath it was unlikely to be any less lethal.

Knuckles ran at it, jumping and digging his claws into the pillar-sized metallic leg and scaling it with all the speed he could find. It got easier as he went up but that wasn't good, that was only because it was falling, the angle he was climbing at getting less steep and then he wasn't climbing but scrambling, onto the hand where fingers wider than his body clutched the struggling hedgehog.

Smashing them was no more an option than Tails blowing it up had been, not with Sonic in middle of that fist, so he pried, grabbing, heaving to release them. He managed three of them before resorting to pulling at Sonic himself. The ground was too close, the rest of the robot looming over them, but he was loose and Knuckles tightened his grip and flung the both of them clear.

He flared his spines instinctively as the robot crashed down yards behind them but an explosion shook the air and sent him tumbling, losing his grip on Sonic and crashing into the ground.

After a dazed second or two in the abrupt, smoky silence they both sat up, coughing.

Sonic had several spines bent out of place, had lost one shoe and was nursing his arm where Knuckles had wrenched him free but seemed otherwise in one piece. Knuckles checked himself over. Mostly bruises but at least one piece of the burning debris now scattered around them, had hit him. The spines falling over his shoulders were scorched He craned his neck for a moment trying to see between his own shoulder blades to assess the injury and failing.

Somewhere overhead the silence was broken by the Tornado's engine, the aircraft and Tails himself invisible through the smoke.

"Thanks." Sonic looked rather dazed, as he regained his feet, staring at the charred remains of the robot. "I didn't see that coming. That point's yours!"

Knuckles stopped trying to turn his neck at impossible angles - whatever the injury was he was still too full of adrenaline and energy for it to hurt anyway. Moving cautiously he rose and frowned at Sonic.

" _Point,_ Sonic? You think this is a game?"

"Oh come on," Sonic's initial rattled demeanour rapidly slid back to a smirking amusement. "Don't pretend like you're not keeping a tally!"

Sonic frowned himself and deepened his voice. "How many times do I have to save your butt, hedgehog?"

He reverted to his normal voice. "I bet you know to the exact figure which of us smashed up more robots!"

"No..." Knuckles trailed off but then recovered himself. Two could play at that. "But if I was I'd definitely be winning! And that's because I'm not stupid enough to stand there gurning at them and get caught!"

He had the satisfaction of seeing the momentary outrage cross the hedgehog's face before Sonic too recovered and shot back. "Actually it's 143 to 137. To me!"

Knuckles' jaw dropped. "What?"

Sonic doubled over laughing. "Oh sweet chaos, you're actually considering it aren't you!"

Knuckles snorted to cover the embarrassment. "Yeah right. But I tell you one thing, Sonic."

"Huh?"

"You can damn well get your own shoe back."

Sonic looked down at his be-socked foot then across at the smoking remains of the robot and his face fell.

"That was my favourite pair."

This seemed unlikely to Knuckles given that as far as he could tell Sonic had half a dozen identical pairs and apparently it was indeed just talk because Sonic was smirking again the next instant.

"Half a point off for that Knux! If you're gonna rescue someone you can't leave 'em hopping."

Knuckles was saved, not for the first time, from having to think of a reply by the arrival of Tails who had apparently found somewhere to land.

"You're okay!" He flung himself at Sonic for a hug, grabbing out with one hand to try and drag Knuckles in too. Knuckles allowed himself to be drawn a step or two closer and gave Tails's hand a careful squeeze of acknowledgement.

"I saw the robot go up with a bang but I couldn't see what happened!" Tails was saying.

"Watcha think? I kicked its butt of course!" Sonic grinned.

Knuckles huffed through his teeth but refrained from adding details.

Sonic winked.

"Well, Knux helped. Y'know... a bit..."

Sonic grinned even more broadly, "That's right, yeah?" He gave Knuckles an enthusiastic slap on the back.

The pain was instant and so unexpected it was all Knuckles could manage not to yell aloud. He heard himself give a strangled sort of gasp instead, heard his breath hitching as he fought to regain control of himself, saw the smile drop off Sonic's face to be replaced by alarm.

"Knuckles! What the- What's wrong? Did it get you?"

Sonic grabbed Knuckles by both shoulders and over his protests, spun him round to look at his back.

"Where does it- Oooh." Sonic broke off whistling through his teeth. "That looks kinda nasty! What happened?"

Knuckles looked back over his shoulder. "The robot I was standing on blew up, Sonic. What do you think happened? A bit of debris clipped me, that's all. It's not serious. Let go."

"The 'bit of debris' was on fire then!" Sonic argued "And it does look serious."

"Well it isn't," Knuckles said flatly. "I can tell. Let go."

He _could_ tell. Even though it hurt more now that when it had happened, he could tell. There was something in the way the Master Emerald's energy reacted when he was injured that told him this particular injury was trivial.

And he could _make_ Sonic let go. The injury was a long way off being serious enough to stop him. But he didn't really want a fight over it. Sonic's concern was genuine. He wasn't normally a panicker so it probably did look unpleasant.

Knuckles hesitated, uncertain of how to persuade, instead of insist, that he was fine.

But Sonic was already standing back and shaking his head as Knuckles turned to face him properly.

"You just don't budge, do you?" Sonic said, his voice full of obvious frustration. "You don't change! Were you going to mention it at all?"

Before Knuckles could answer, Sonic had already guessed it.

"No, of course you weren't."

Knuckles stared back at him, then at Tails who was watching the two of them anxiously, looking as puzzled as Knuckles felt. He hadn't intended to annoy Sonic. Not this time anyway and he wouldn't have hidden an injury that would have put any of them in danger - prevented them being able to rely on him.

It was just... it _wasn't_ serious.

"I didn't decide not to tell you," he finally managed. "I just didn't-" he stopped abruptly, then as a thought struck him and he knew exactly how to fix the conversation.

"-think." he finished. He tipped his head to the side, raised his eyebrows, and waited.

Sonic stared at him. Annoyed, then incredulous, then slowly a smile crept onto his face and he shook his head. Tails giggled.

"Oh? You didn't?" Sonic said, Reluctantly, he gave a huff of a laugh. " I can't even... ...Whatever. Fine"

He stared at Knuckles a moment longer. "So did you think of a plan for getting it mopped up or you going to actually let us help?"

"There's stuff inside," Tails put in.

Knuckles twisted his neck again, made a half hearted attempt to reach over or round. Shrugged. Grimaced.

"I'll come back inside."

The others both smiled and Knuckles added, as an afterthought, "Anyway, aren't I due cake?"

Sonic grinned. "Yeah. Sorry about the robot. Again. It really isn't always like this."

Knuckles looked sceptical and Sonic's tone turned indignant. "Hey, it was on your turf we got bounced mid-birthday last year!"

That was true Knuckles had to admit, and although Sonic seemed to attract trouble there had been no obvious direct correlation either that time on the Island or this time on the surface. Sonic wouldn't have gone looking for trouble this time, not after spending so long persuading Knuckles to come down here in the first place. It was bad luck, or bad timing was all.

In any case Sonic hadn't waited for an answer, and Knuckles followed him back inside where Tails was hovering to reach a cabinet at the back of the workshop and lifting out an extensive first aid kit.

Sonic went on through into the adjoining house and on to the kitchen where he started cold water running and dumped towels into the sink.

"Should probably wash and cool it down first," He pulled a chair out from the table and turned it sideways. He pointed. "Sit there."

Knuckles considered arguing simply because it was given as an instruction and he didn't take instructions from the hedgehog but Tails was already following them through and clearly also expected compliance.

So he sat and let Sonic fish one of the towels out of the sink and drape it across the burn. Knuckles hissed through his teeth.

"I know." Sonic said. "Just give it a sec."

Knuckles bit off his protest and waited.

"Running water would be better really," Sonic commented, "But short of dumping you under a hosepipe or dunking you in an ice-bath it's in kind of a tricky spot for that."

He swapped out the towel.

"Neither option appeals," Knuckles agreed through a grimace.

Tails dumped ice-cubes into the sink.

"I'm not really sure here," Sonic admitted. "They say cold water first for burns but we were stood around yakking afterwards, they probably mean straight away."

"No," Knuckles said. "It's good."

Sonic changed out the towels again and the coolness was welcome. Knuckles leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his muzzle in his hands.

"Are you tired?" Tails asked. "Hungry? There's all the party food still laid out."

Knuckles turned his head without straightening back up.

"The cake?"

Tails smiled. "That comes last! But I'll get you a plateful."

Sonic lifted the towel as Tails disappeared into the next room.

"I think you're right," he said, after a moment. "It's not deep. You might lose some fur."

Knuckles shrugged.

"Fur grows."

Tails reappeared with a heaped plate. Knuckles eyed it. It was heavy on sugar as he could probably have predicted but he was hungry and he reached for it anyway. Behind him Sonic's stomach rumbled.

Tails laughed.

"I'm there!" Sonic said before anyone could remark. Tails waved him through to the food and rejoined Knuckles.

"How's it feel?"

"Better."

"Good." Tails replaced the towel this time. "Give it a few more minutes with the cold water then I'll put a dressing on. It should be fine."

Knuckles fought the urge to say he knew that already, and stuck another chocolate biscuit in his mouth instead.

Sonic bounced back in, already with a mouthful in addition to what was on his plate and they were both halfway through when a female voice called through from the hangar entrance.

"Helloo?"

Tails paused in the middle of fishing through the first aid kit.

"We're in here!"

A second later Amy Rose appeared in the doorway, smiling.

"Happy- " She'd smiled at Knuckles but trailed off surveying the scene. "What happened?"

"Gatecrashers," Sonic said cheerfully before Knuckles could answer. "Robots, epic fights, dashing heroics-"

"-idiot hedgehogs getting themselves caught." Knuckles added.

"-slowpoke echidnas getting themselves blown up!" Sonic shot back.

"-while hauling hedgehog backside out of trouble!"

Sonic opened his mouth to fire back the next volley and hesitated. Shrugged. Grinned at Amy.

"Yeah. All that kind of thing."

Amy looked between the two of them and past them at Tails who just rolled his eyes and returned his attention to unwrapping the dressing from the first aid kit.

"Hold still," he advised. Knuckles nodded.

Amy stared a moment then shook her head.

"Hmm. Well. Happy birthday anyway." She proffered an envelope which Knuckles reached for awkwardly.

"Thank you." He frowned. "Wait - how did you know it-"

"Sonic told me, of course," Amy explained before he'd even finished asking. "He said there was a party!"

Knuckles sat up abruptly, making Tails protest as his attempt to knot the bandage holding the dressing was yanked loose.

"Knuckles!"

"Sorry." More voices came from outside and Knuckles stared at Sonic in something that was almost bordering on alarm. "How many people did you tell?"

"A few," Sonic said over the noise of the entire Chaotix crew shouting 'hello's through the hangar, Charmy zipping about at head height and Vector pausing in the doorway and causing a minor pile up when Cream and Cheese arrived hot on the heels of Espio and Mighty behind him.

"Woah, the party get wild enough to need first aid already?" the crocodile asked, looking Knuckles up and down.

"No!" Knuckles snapped then forced himself to lower his voice and smile instead because Vector was handing him a large envelope, presumably another birthday card and Cream was also hurrying to the front of the group with another.

"We had an... interruption," Knuckles managed in a fairly calm tone.

Sonic smirked. "Yeah. Worked up an appetite. Food's through there but the ice for the drinks got hijacked. Go help yourselves yeah?" He pointed at the envelopes. "You going to open those, Knux?"

Knuckles looked down at the small pile in his hands and Tails finished fixing the dressing and handed him another envelope from the table.

"There's this one too."

"Thank you." It had come out on automatic and accepted the card before turning his attention back to the hedgehog.

"Sonic, who else?"

Sonic was grinning. "Only people you know..."

"Sonic..."

Knuckles loaded his tone with warning but was interrupted by a drawl from behind.

"Well, hello..."

Knuckles whirled to find himself facing a smirking Rouge. Shadow stood close behind her although going by her hand curled around his wrist it was under a certain amount of duress. He was pointedly not looking at Sonic while Rouge continued to smirk at Knuckles.

"Happy birthday, handsome. Had an eventful day already I see. Need anything kissing better?"

Knuckles took two steps backwards with such rapidity that he tramped on Sonic's still shoeless foot making the hedgehog yelp.

Rouge laughed. "Just a thought. Don't panic. Here."

She held out an envelope which Knuckles received with the caution he might apply to an unexploded bomb. The envelope was a violently clashing pink and after a moment's examination Knuckles tore it open hastily, welcoming the distraction. The card inside was a picture of an equally pink cake surrounded by balloons. Inside Rouge had signed her name in a flowing flourish above a row of little Xs which Knuckles could make nothing of.

"Thank you," he said dutifully.

Rouge winked at him and elbowed Shadow. who also produced a card.

This too bore a cake picture though in a less virulent shade. Shadow had written his name inside in small neat print. He watched Knuckles read the card with a nonplussed expression on his face that Knuckles could more than emphasise with.

"Thank you," Knuckles repeated wondering if it was starting to sound repetitive. "There's food through there. I think." He pointed and to his relief Rouge and Shadow followed the others out of the kitchen.

Knuckles spun back to Sonic. "You invited all these people?" It was an urgent whisper. He wanted to shout but didn't want everyone in the next room to hear. "You invited Rouge?"

Sonic grinned. Knuckles stared at him.

"And _Shadow_?"

"Er. Actually, no. Not Shadow," Sonic looked over his shoulder. "I'd kinda assumed that'd be wasted effort. Looks like Rouge is more persuasive than me." His gaze went to the door. "He's not exactly a party animal is he?"

" _ **I**_ am not a 'party animal', Sonic!"

Sonic waved this off, and Tails, watching, stepped closer and pointed to the remaining cards in Knuckles' hands which he'd been waving under Sonic's nose in emphasis.

"You going to open those or not?"

Knuckles looked at them. Then at Sonic. Then at Tails.

He didn't have to go along with this. But Sonic looked so cheerfully confident and Tails was smiling with just a tiny bit of anxiety that said he knew how close Knuckles was to making a run for it.

He hesitated, listening to the voices from the next room. Chatter. Laughter. Shadow's voice cutting through the others and sounding so utterly confused that Knuckles smiled in sympathetic recognition.

He looked down at the envelopes and opened the top one. This was Cream's and really was a folded piece of paper instead of card, with a crayoned flower and the words 'Happy Birthday Knuckles" unevenly distributed across it.

Amy's had a picture of a pile of presents on it and a handwritten message inside in addition to the signature: "Have fun and don't let Sonic drive you nuts today!" The Chaotix had all written their names scattered across the inside of an oversized card showing fireworks. Sonic and Tails had found one with an unidentifiable blur of an animal racing round a loop trailing a 'happy birthday' banner.

"Thank you," Knuckles stood up and Tails took the cards and arrayed them, standing open on the counter-top.

"You can take them with you when you go back," he said.

Knuckles nodded.

Sonic bounced on his toes. "So present now? Or cake? They're both through there."

Knuckles looked warily at the doorway, trying to master his hesitation. He knew everyone here. He'd fought alongside all of them. Admittedly he'd also fought _against_ a few fair on occasion, but for the most part, and most recently he'd fought on the same side as them. There was no logical way that talking and eating cake with them could be more daunting than taking on giant armed robots and experimental monsters.

Right?

He lifted his head, pushed his quills back behind his shoulders and marched to the doorway, flanked by Sonic and Tails.

There was a ragged, half joking cheer as he entered, followed by a brief scuffle among the Chaotix as Charmy tried ineffectively to push enough people off the overcrowded sofa for Knuckles to sit down.

As he took the space vacated by Vector dragging Charmy off to sit on the floor, Knuckles had a horrible moment of panic at the thought the others might be expecting him to address them as a group. Instead, to his relief, Sonic dropped a weighty, brightly wrapped package in his lap.

Knuckles ran his fingers over the paper. Whatever was inside was solid, the surface smooth. It took a moment's fumbling to get a tear started in it to unwrap. He was acutely aware of being watched and concentrated on the wrapping paper instead.

He pushed it away to find a large book, bound in glossy red material with stylised shapes imprinted in it which could perhaps be emeralds.

"Open it then!" Sonic urged as Knuckles looked up to a ring of curious faces.

Knuckles looked back down at the book in his lap and opened it. It was a book of pictures. Photographs. His eyes found Tails because he remembered the fox zipping about with a camera from time to time and the first picture in the book was one he'd taken. Hovering there laughing while Sonic had tried to persuade Knuckles to stand still for it. He'd hadn't done really - the photograph showed him caught mid-turn, Sonic pulling at his arm to hold him there.

He looked as startled and puzzled there as he felt now - a picture of him looking ridiculous was a gift?

"Look at the others!" Tails urged and, trying to keep a frown off his face, Knuckles complied.

He recognised Marble Garden on the next page - blurred because whoever had taken the picture - and it could only be Sonic - had been focussed not on the scenery but on the two figures, Knuckles and Tails racing down the hill on the hoverboards. They were blurred too but not enough to hide the fact they were both grinning wildly at the ride.

"It's not, like, great photographic art or anything," Sonic said, leaning over to look at the picture himself. "But I thought it might be nice."

Knuckles looked at the picture a moment longer. Even blurred, it brought the occasion it had been taken back so vividly, he found himself smiling at the remembered exhilaration, Tails laughing, Sonic, already off his board, ahead of them, yelling encouragement and turning back to take that photo.

He turned another page. Most of the people in room featured somewhere and they were soon all gathered closer, commenting and pointing. Even Shadow stood behind them looking over.

There were pictures of the Island too, pictures with no one in the frame. Clouds curling around the volcano, torchlight reflecting on carvings in one of the old temples, the sun setting behind one of the glittering loops of Icecap that was so lovely he almost lost his breath to a sudden desire to be there right now.

He looked up at Sonic - was there nervousness in the hedgehog's smile? Did he realise, as Knuckles did, the implication of those photos, taken alone, unwatched and unsupervised on the Island? Did he know when he sat down to stick them into a book as a present how much trust their mere existence represented?

Sonic raised his hands. "Now I know what you're going to say..."

Knuckles watched him. _Did_ he know?

"You're going to say... 'Presents are great, Sonic looks awesome in those photos, but where's my cake?'" He grinned. "Right?"

Knuckles' mouth dropped open for a second. Then he composed himself. "Something _like_ that, possibly," he said, giving up.

Sonic winked and spun on the spot leaving Knuckles shaking his head.

"Bring forth the cake!" Sonic declared. "Make way for the cake! I'm looking at you, Shadow!"

Shadow narrowed his eyes at Sonic but moved aside, still watching him.

The cake, larger than usual, sat on a table at the side of the room. Knuckles needed no encouragement to hurry over, suddenly hungry all over again. Without ceremony, and before Sonic could rattle on any further he took up the knife that lay beside it and cut in. There was another ragged cheer and he found himself dividing up and handing out the pieces.

People found somewhere to sit or stand to eat and the noise levels climbed again. Knuckles was on his second piece of cake and using a full mouth as excuse for not joining the chatter when he noticed Shadow making for the seawards exit.

Both Sonic and Rouge started after him but Knuckles intercepted them.

"I'll go." Sonic would bait and Rouge would wheedle but Knuckles suspected he knew better than either of them what the issue was.

Shadow had not, to his mild surprise, actually carried on and left. He was standing looking at the sea.

"Loud in there," Knuckles said before getting too close. Shadow looked lost in thought and was not a safe person to startle.

He grunted in response and turned.

"Yes. Remind me what the point of it is?"

Knuckles made a face. "Actually I'm still not entirely sure."

"Sonic's idea," Shadow guessed accurately.

"Yeah." Knuckles watched the unfamiliar hedgehog. "Why did _you_ come?"

"Rouge's idea," Shadow said dryly. His sardonic drawl turned puzzled, uncharacteristically uncertain. "There never seemed to be a logical point in the conversation to tell her 'no'."

Laughter broke from Knuckles' throat before he could stop himself and Shadow glared at him. The change in the flow of chaos energy around him was so abrupt with his anger that Knuckles instinctively shifted his stance, lowering his weight, raising his hands.

As thought caught up with action he shook his head and relaxed.

"Sorry. I'm not laughing at you. It's just that I know that feeling exactly."

"Hmm." Shadow's glare faded only slowly as the energy settled, and he sounded reluctant when he spoke again. The words might have been dragged out of him.

"And I suppose I was curious."

Knuckles nodded. "I know that one too."

There was silence between them for some moments, though the noise from inside continued unabated.

Shadow looked back at the doorway.

"Rouge says people do this every year. On the day they were born."

"That's the theory."

Shadow raised his eyebrows at the wry tone in Knuckles' voice and Knuckles explained.

"This almost certainly _isn't_ the day I was hatched. I don't know when that was."

Shadow nodded, but didn't seem to expect further detail.

After a moment he gave a small snort. "I expect the records still exist of the exact date I was... is 'born' the right word...? Finished? Activated? But I can't say I've committed it to memory."

Knuckles could think of no response to that other than an acknowledging nod of his own and after a moment Shadow spoke again.

"Why do you do it? If it's not real?"

It was a question Knuckles had asked himself enough times that he thought he ought to have an answer by now and didn't. There was certainly no way Shadow would accept 'because Sonic and Tails enjoy it' as a reason - he wasn't entirely sure why he himself did, although it had become impossible to ignore the fact that was part of it.

"I don't know," he admitted instead. "I suppose it _is_... fun..."

Sonic's word - fun - and Shadow looked unsurprisingly sceptical. Knuckles sought for clearer reasons.

"The cake is nice, the gifts are... interesting..."

It wasn't a good word and he floundered. "Why does Rouge say it's fun?"

"She did mention the gifts," Shadow said, and this time a hint of amusement played across his face.

"I bet she did!" Knuckles let himself laugh too and relaxed slightly.

"I don't know," he repeated thoughtfully. "Not really. But it makes me notice the year, what's changed, what's different, what's better."

"What's worse?"

"Sometimes," Knuckles allowed. Shadow frowned and offered no further comment. Knuckles found himself glad of that since he couldn't entirely account for why he'd said as much as he had. It had been more like thinking aloud than a conversation.

Shadow was looking back out at the sea. From behind them Sonic stuck out his head and interrupted the silence.

"Cake's going fast! Last chance for seconds!"

Knuckles turned.

"That's _my_ cake, Sonic. If I miss seconds, you're going to end up missing teeth."

Sonic stuck out his tongue. "Guess we'd better both move quick then!"

Knuckles looked from one hedgehog to the other as the blue one withdrew inside with a wink and a grin.

Knuckles moved to follow.

"Shadow," he said over his shoulder as he headed in. The black and red hedgehog turned.

"You should check that date. You should tell it to Rouge."

Shadow stared at him. Knuckles shrugged. "Just a thought."

He didn't wait for an answer.

Inside, Sonic was holding the final piece of cake behind his back, extremely unconvincingly but surrendered it it with a smirk as Knuckles advanced on him.

"Kidding!"

Knuckles accepted the cake. He'd known that. Sonic's antics were familiar.

The sweetness of the cake was becoming familiar.

He looked around the room, everyone here to some degree or another was familiar. The chatter was familiar, things they done or seen together. This place was as familiar as anywhere not the Island ever got. More familiar than he'd have thought anywhere not the Island _could_ be.

It wasn't his proper place, and he wasn't sure he'd ever entirely get used to having so many people around, but for now it was a pleasant touchpoint in the year.

He relocated Sonic in the small crowd, sitting on the arm of an easy-chair which Tails was perched on the back of and Amy and Cream were occupying the rest of.

"Thank you," he said before embarrassment could set in. "It's a good party." He barely hesitated. "Good fun."

They all smiled. Sonic grinning broadly.

"You even talked Shadow Sulkyguts round?" he said.

"What? " Knuckles looked round. Shadow had indeed slipped silently back inside and been ambushed at once by Rouge holding two plates of food.

Knuckles shrugged. "Not exactly. We talked."

"Did you tell him that birthdays are awesome?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Sonic, that's exactly what I told him. Birthdays are awesome."

Sonic grinned, pretending to believe the dripping sarcasm.

"Good." he said. "Because they are. Aren't they?"

Knuckles held that grinning, challenging stare for a second or two before allowing himself to give in.

"Perhaps," he allowed at last.

"A bit."

 _ **-End-**_


End file.
